DIY Christmas | brunch + 2 recipes

Welcome to DIY Christmas, Sincerely, Kelley style! (where "this is how I did it" would be more accurate!)

It's been busy, busy around here! So busy in fact, that this brunch almost didn't happen. But when my nurse friend is off work and my Kentucky friend is in town on the same day some getting together must happen, whether it's in the middle of Missions Conference or not! :)

We planned a brunch at my house for 9:00am, perfect time to sleep in a little extra, but still get home with plenty of time to spare. Here's what we had!

Pumpkin cream cheese muffins, eggs, sausage balls, and apple pie apples. And of course, plenty of hot tea and coffee!

Writing this post is making me hungry!

Now, for the recipes...

 

 

My cousin made these for Thanksgiving, and our entire family absolutely loved them! I've made them twice since then, and I'm going out today to buy the stuff to make them again! They're super easy, and once you slice them up, they won't last long!

You will need...
Granny Smith Apples
Caramel Apple Wrap (cheat and use these instead of dipping, it's so much easier!)
Vanilla or White Chocolate Almond Bark
Cinnamon Sugar

• Wrap your apples with the caramel and put them in the oven on 200 for 5 minutes.
• Let them cool while you melt the almond bark
• Once they've cooled off, dip them in the almond bark and immediately sprinkle cinnamon sugar on them.
• Let them harden, then slice and serve! SO YUMMY!

 

I got this one straight from Pinterest, and I'm just going to copy and paste the recipe, because I just exactly follow it when I make these!

Ingredients

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1¼ cups vegetable oil

For the topping:
½ cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions

• To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½-inches in diameter. Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log, and reinforce with a piece of foil. Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.
• To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.
• To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend. Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.
• To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (1-2 tablespoons). Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces. Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely. Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

 I hope you try these recipes out, and let me know if you do! They have become favorites at my house!

I hope everyone is having a very merry holiday season!